Jialin Li

This project examines how contemporary Tradition Chinese Medicine (TCM) doctors manage their identities as a doctor, a Chinese scientist, and a global scientist, both domestically and globally, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It is well documented by the existing literature that the tension between modernity and tradition, between scientific nationalism and international pressure, has haunted historic Chinese public health initiatives, such as the one-child policy and SARS epidemic response. Drawing on archival data, interviews, and social media posts, my research investigates how the ongoing global pandemic and consequential macro-political changes have shifted the identities of TCM doctors and their scientific practics in a drastically changing global environment.